Photo by Aleksandr Ledogorov on Unsplash

Happy Year of the Tiger! Last week, on Lunar New Year’s Eve, I did a collective I Ching reading for my blog readers and Instagram community. The I Ching is a book of divination that is deeply connected to the bagua, yin and yang, and the five elements. I Ching divination is one of the practices that we teach our feng shui students in the Mindful Design certification program.

When I asked what the Holistic Spaces community would benefit from learning at this time, I got hexagram 62, which is made up of Thunder over the Mountain. This is wood energy over earth energy. This hexagram is described as Conscientiousness, or the Preponderance of the Small.

The oracle advice is that we could all be a little bit more conscientious in our dealings with the world at this moment. We can benefit from paying attention to the details around us and making sure we don’t overlook things as we attend to our day-to-day matters. It’s really about mindfulness. How can we be more mindful and pay attention to the details of our lives? This is really what feng shui is about: noticing that we’re interconnected and interdependent with our environments.

Be conscientious of all of the things in your life right now. Is there anything that is being neglected? Now is the time to take advantage of this energy, to look more carefully and to have more dignity with your affairs in the world, and to pay attention to your relationships. Are there any relationships that you’ve been neglecting? Give your friends a call and connect with your community. It’s also a good idea to pay attention to financial interactions.

The oracle also says that you may find your hands full of trivial emotional concerns, so be careful not to let yourself fret over those things. Instead, how can you start to see the bigger picture? Now is a good time to really work with your inner development, and approach it with some humility and humbleness. If you do that, and you apply dignity and conscientiousness in all areas of your life, you will find good fortune.

Lastly, what is pulling the strings and what’s happening beyond your control is that this is a time to reform. It’s described as Biting Through. As you experience obstacles, how can you bite through them? How can you move through challenges rather than letting them stop you? Work with this feeling of conscientiousness and mindfulness, and pay attention to anything that you may have been neglecting in your life.

by Anjie Cho

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

What would be the most effective way to bring, health, protection, and prosperity to our home? My 87-year-old mother lives with us. My husband is struggling, and his mental and physical energy is very low. Can you help prevent him from forgetting so much and struggling to concentrate and increase his mental and physical energy?

Eliane B., Coral Springs, FL

Hi Eliane,

Thank you so much for your question! It's a little complicated and there are a lot of things going on in this question. I understand you're having problems with health, protection and prosperity and with your husband forgetting a lot and having mental health issues. My intuition guided me to an I Ching reading for this question, so I'll share that insight with you.

The I Ching is also known as the Book of Changes, and it's a way of divination based on Taoism. As is the I Ching practice, I threw coins for your question and received what is called Hexagram #39, which is Water over Mountain. This hexagram represents obstacles. One thing the I Ching tells me is that right now you have a lot of stumbling blocks in your life, and that's obvious in your question. It feels like you may have a lot of confusion there as well. I Ching reflects that as you're experiencing these obstacles, now is not a good time for you to push ahead into the danger. Imagine you're like a rushing river, but you have a lot of snags in your way. If you wait and build up your strength, you will push through these difficulties naturally, much like a river makes its way through a mountain.

So my suggestion would be to not use force right now. Instead, just sit and be patient. The I Ching suggests you don't have the strength to move past these obstructions yet, so focus on building your power and vigor. The second hexagram that comes up is 15, which is Moderation. This confirms that now is a time of moderation, not stubbornly moving forward. Practice moderation in your eating habits, how you spend money and in everything you do, and be careful not to go to extremes, because that could actually create more problems for you.

As for a feng shui adjustment that could support this path, you may begin to cultivate patience and moderation in your journey to gaining the might you need for this task. I recommend working on a few opposite areas of the feng shui bagua: Self-Knowledge and Relationships, which is also related to self-care. Both of these areas are Earth elements, so nurturing them is not about doing anything, but about taking care of yourself, moving slowly and implementing self-control as you build strength. Since this is an issue between you and your husband, I suggest activating these bagua areas of your bed. To do this, place a nine-inch long red ribbon under your mattress in each area, Knowledge and Relationships. When working with a bed, set the bagua at the head of the bed so that the headboard runs along the Abundance, Recognition and Relationships areas, and the foot borders Knowledge, Path in Life and Benefactors.

Facing your headboard from the foot of your bed, the left corner closest to you would be Knowledge. Put a nine-inch long red ribbon there. The far right corner, near the headboard, would be where you place another ribbon to activate Relationships. That's my advice for now. Make these small adjustments with intention and keep the idea of moderation in mind. You are experiencing setbacks, but instead of focusing on that, really take care of yourself and actively work on your self-cultivation and self-care right now. Good luck!

by Anjie Cho